Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

I came upon this recipe on someone else's blog which was linked to the original poster and decided to give it a try.
It was much easier to make than the regular lasagna I usually make. I have never tired to make it without cooking the noodles first, but it was actually nice not to have to wait for the pasta to cook.
It turned out great and tasted delicious. I don't know where I saw that I was supposed to use mushrooms in this recipe, because I put them on my grocery list! ha ha And by the time I got home and noticed that I did not actually need this , I decided to use them anyway.
I cooked the onions for a couple of minutes in the olive oil and then added the cut up mushrooms until they were soft. I used a little more than 2 cups of spinach and wished I used even more, it really added a good flavor to the recipe. I only used half a box of noodles that I had left over from the last time I made lasagna. I was actually able to make an extra smaller lasagna since I had extra ingredients left over.
I'm not a big fan of ricotta cheese, so I used cottage cheese instead and used extra mozzarella cheese.
I'm glad I found this awesome recipe.. will be making it again.

Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

1 box lasagna noodles, uncooked

2 24 oz jars pasta sauce (or 1 large jar, not sure of the size) (I used Bertolli Five Cheese)

8 oz ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 tsp italian seasoning

2 chicken breasts

1 cup mozzarella cheese

2 cups baby spinach, chopped

1/2 a large onion, diced

extra virgin olive oil

Begin by baking the chicken breasts at 375 until done, about 25 min. Shred into bite size pieces. Set aside. In a skillet, add 1-2 Tbsp olive oil and add the onion. Cook 3-5 minutes or until the onion starts to soften. Add the chicken to a skillet with the sauce and heat over low heat until simmering. While the sauce is simmering make the ricotta filling. Mix the ricotta with the egg and stir in the italian seasoning. Set aside. In a baking dish, put a thin layer of the chicken pasta sauce. Next, add a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles. Add another layer of sauce then a layer of the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle one cup of the chopped spinanch over the ricotta. Add another layer of noodles and repeat layers as before. End with a layer of noodles and a layer of sauce. Top with the mozzarella. Cover the dish with foil and place into the preheated 375 degree oven. Bake for 45 minutes, remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Perfect Pizza Crust

I copied this recipe from Baking Bites once again... I must admit that she has some great recipes!! I made this recipe a week ahead and froze it until this Saturday.

I wasn't sure about using a food processor for pizza dough.. but it actually turned out great! It was much easier then trying to knead the dough by hand. I made a double batch, because I wanted to make calzones. I put both in separate bowl to rise, but for some reason the second ball of dough did not rise for me.. I'm not sure what happened. .. if anyone has any advice, please leave me some feedback.

I defrosted the dough today and made the calzones on my George Foreman, I have a recipe book that came with it and has a recipe for these.
I divided the dough into 5 balls and rolled it out. I prepared the pizza sauce with roasted garlic and put a couple of tablespoons on each calzone, added some peppers, pepperoni, cheese and some seasonings, folded and pinched to seal. I then placed them on the George Foreman and "grilled" for 7-8 mintues... they turned out great.
I wanted to bake them this time around because I've never tried it that way before, but my husband had to go to work and I wanted to feed him before he had to leave and this was much quicker. Delicious outcome!


Perfect Pizza Crust
(from Cooks Illustrated)

1 1/4 tsp instant or active dry yeast
1 cup water, slightly warm or room temperature
1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 oz) all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 cup (4 oz) cake flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

Preheat the oven to 500F with your baking stone on the oven rack.
Combine yeast and water and stir to dissolve.
Combine flours, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to blend. With the motor running, stream in water/yeast mixture. Continue to process for 1-2 minutes, until dough becomes smooth and satiny. Add an extra tablespoon of flour if the dough becomes too sticky (see photos).
Divide dough into two and shape each piece into a tight ball. Place on a lightly floured surface and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap or a clean dish towel. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Working with one ball of dough at a time, place on a lightly floured surface. Flatten the dough into an 8-inch disk, then stretch the edges gently until the dough is about 12-inches in diameter, rotating the dough by quarter turns as you work. You can also gently stretch the dough by placing it on the backs of your hands, letting the weight of the dough stretch it out.
Transfer the stretched dough onto a baking sheet that has been covered with cornmeal (you can use a pizza peel, if you have one). Spread it with a small amount of the sauce (see recipe below), toppings of your choice and slide it quickly into the oven.
Bake pizza at 500F for 5-10 minutes, until well browned.
Retrieve pizza with baking sheet or pizza peel.
Serve immediately and repeat process with second piece of dough.Makes 2, 12-inch pizzas

Note: You can also use the “convection bake” setting, if your oven has one, and reduce the cooking time by 1-2 minutes. This allows for extra air circulation and could result in a slightly crisper crust, as well as a quicker cooking time.

Beignets

Another great recipe from Baking Bites Blog... Mmmm... these were so good.. I made them for brunch a couple Sundays ago and they were gone within minutes.
Yum...

Beignets
(recipe from eGullet)
3/4 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
3 3/4 — 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup evaporated milk*
1 large egg
2 tbsp butter, very soft
canola (or safflower) oil for frying
confectioners sugar, to serve

In a large bowl (the bowl of an electric mixer), dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Mix in sugar, salt, egg, and evaporated milk. Add 2 cups of the flour and beat (by hand or with the paddle attachment) until smooth. Stir in the butter and 1 3/4 cups flour, switching to the dough hook towards the end of mixing if you are using an electric mixer. Add in remaining flour one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl into a soft ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, heat one quart of oil in a medium sauce pan (or more oil in a bigger pan if you want to cook a lot at a time), measuring it with a thermometer until it reaches 370F.

Scrap dough, which will have doubled in size, out of the bowl and onto a very lightly floured surface. Deflate and shape into a rectangle. Roll out the rectangle until it is 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into 25 squares using a pizza cutter.

Lower squares into hot oil and cook, turning once, until golden brown. Monitor the temperature to make sure it does not drop too low or get too high. Do not overcrowd the pan.

Drain on paper towels and dust generously with confectioners sugar before serving.
Makes 25 beignets

*Note: If you do not have evaporated milk, do not use sweetened condensed milk. In a pinch, you can substitute cream or light cream (which I had done) for evaporated milk and still get good results.

Homemade Bagels

I got this recipe from Baking Bites ( bakingbites.com)

They were delicious and the recipe is easy to follow. I have made them on 3 different occasions and although they did not come out as pretty as the ones on Baking Bites site.. they still tasted good.
According to bakingbites.com they are not big sandwich bagels, but regular sized ones. If you want bigger ones, just make less bagels. Instead of 12, you can make 6.
I usually made about 10-12 and they were good a good size.

Enjoy..


Homemade Bagels
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 3/4 cups water, warm (100-110F)
4 cups bread flour (not all purpose)
1 tbsp salt
1 egg, for egg wash

In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) combine yeast, sugar and water. Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir in flour and salt. Mix dough thoroughly until it comes together in a large ball, pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Add an additional tablespoon of flour or water, if needed.
If kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until very smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If using a stand mixer, knead dough with the dough hook until elastic, about 8 minutes on a low speed. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil and preheat the oven to 400F.

When dough has risen, turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces (first quarters, then thirds). Shape each piece into a tight ball as illustrated below, pinching the corners together at the bottom of the piece of dough. When all the balls are shaped, let the dough rest for 30 minutes covered with a clean dish towel.

Once dough balls have rested, the bagel shape can be formed. Using your fingers, poke a hole through the center of each dough ball. Stretch out the dough into a ring with your fingers and be sure to make the hole a little larger than you want the finished bagel to have, as it will shrink slightly while the bagel is expanding during the baking process. Let bagels rest for about 10 minutes.

Working four at a time, drop the bagels carefully into the boiling water. Boil for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip and boil for an additional minute. Using a slotted spoon or strainer, transfer bagels to a clean towel to drain for a moment, then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining bagels.
Brush boiled bagels with lightly beaten egg (a pastry or bbq brush is a good tool for this) and bake for 20-24 minutes, until golden brown.
Cool completely on a wire rack.
Slice and toast to serve.

Makes 12 bagels.

Apple Bread

I got this recipe from allrecipes .com .. I wish that I had saved it in my computer because I only printed the recipe at work and forgot to write down the person who the recipe belongs to.

This was really easy to make and the results were delicious and very moist!! It's kind of like banana bread, but with apples.

Ingredients:

3 Cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil ( you can use apple sauce to cut down on the calories)
2 cups sugar ( I used 1 cup regular sugar and 1 cup brown sugar)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups apples-peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
1 cup broken walnuts


Directions

In bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, place oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and apples.

Stir into flour mixture.

Add walnuts and mix

Divide the mixture between two greased 8-in. x 4-in. bread pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until bread test done.
Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack before removing from pan.

Betty Crocker-Impossibly Easy French Applie Pie

We had a bunch of apples left and either I would bake something and use them up or they would become rotten.

I came upon this recipe when looking for an easy apple pie. It turned out pretty good, although I think that if there was a little more batter if would have tasted even better. I did not have many chopped nuts and wanted to use them in another recipe, so I skipped them in this one.

Prep Time-25min
Servings-6

Filling

3 cups sliced peeled apples (3 large)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup Original Bisquick mix
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs

Streusel

1/2 cup Original Bisquick mix
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons firm butter or margarine

1. Heat oven to 325F. Grease 9- inch glass pie plate. In a medium bow, mix apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg:place in pie plate.

2. In medium bowl, stir remaining filling ingredients until well blended. Pour over apple mixture in pie plate. In small bowl, mix all streusel ingredients until crumbly; sprinkle over filling.

3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center come out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Store in refrigerator.

It's been a long time..........

I've neglected my blog for too long! I can't believe that I haven't posted in such a long time. When I first signed up for Blogger, I was so excited and thought that I would post everyday.. But I don't know what happened.

I am going to try and keep up with the blog this time around.

I will be updating this weekend!